Scranton Ranked Among Nation’s Best for ‘Social Mobility, Research and Service’ of Graduates
The University of Scranton ranked No. 38 among “Master’s Universities” in the nation in a listing by Washington Monthly that seeks to assess a school’s contribution to the “public good” through its graduates’ achievements with “social mobility, research and service.”
The University of Scranton is ranked No. 38 in the nation among master’s universities in a listing by Washington Monthly that seeks to rate colleges based on their contribution to “social mobility, research and service.” Scranton is the highest ranked school in Pennsylvania in the “Master’s University” category in the 2016 ranking published Aug. 29 in the September/October issue of Washington Monthly and online.
Scranton ranked even higher in the “research” index, at No. 33, which is used to calculate a school’s overall score. In addition, Scranton ranked No. 67 in its category in the “Best Bang for the Buck” listing, also published by the magazine, that focused on the “social mobility” data used for the overall ranking.
According to Washington Monthly, its rankings used the “best available data” to measure schools “based on what they are doing for the country,” such as “improving social mobility, producing research and promoting public service.”
“Colleges that enrolled many low-income students and helped them graduate did well on our rankings, regardless of how famous they were. So did universities producing the next generation of scientists and Ph.D.s, and those that built an ethos of public obligation by sending graduates into service,” explained Kevin Carey in a Washington Monthly article that accompanied the rankings.
Washington Monthly’s rankings weighted equally the colleges’ performance in three areas: social mobility, research and service. The social mobility score is based actual and predicted graduation rates: student loan repayment rates; actual verses predicted median earnings of graduates 10 years after enrollment; and the percentage of students receiving Pell Grants and the percentage of first generation college students, among other factors. The research score evaluates each school’s research expenditure and the number of alumni earning Ph.D.s, relative to the size of the school. The service score, also adjusted for the size of the school, is based on the size of the ROTC program; the number of alumniserving in the Peace Corps; the percentage of federal work study grant money spent on community service projects; the number of students participating in service projects; the number of service hours performed; and the number of academic courses that incorporate community services, among other factors.
